Had a good Christmas in terms of whisky and bourbon collecting. Managed to acquire a bottle of Bulleit which I very much enjoyed on Christmas Eve, followed by unwrapping a bottle of Springbank 15 and a bottle of Tamnavulin 12. I'd never tried a Campbeltown whisky before, and the nose reminded me instantly of Talisker. However the taste of Springbank is altogether different. A much smoother experience than Talisker and one I would highly recommend.

Now Springbank I've heard of, but the bottle of Tamnavulin was a complete curve ball for me. I didn't really know what to expect, having only tried one Speyside before (Benromach Traditional) but I was pleasantly surprised. It's an extremely smooth dram and after looking up the distillery, I'm glad they resumed production back in 2007. Well worth a try.

deadwing posted:

So, I was just poking through my parent's liquor cabinet and found a lonely bottle of Chivas Regal Royal Salute 21 year old. They don't drink hard liquor (only keep it around for entertaining) and said I can have it, they received it as a gift (sealed) a few months ago and some neighbors had some on New Years Eve, it's a bit over half full. It's got a brown ceramic bottle, so I'm assuming it's an older bottle, since it looks like all the bottles currently on the market are blue. Does anyone have any idea when the brown ceramic bottles are from?

Either way, talk about a nice gift! I don't even think they know what they have.

The current 21 year old comes in three bottle colors - blue, green and red. The red bottle is actually pretty pale and almost faded - maybe your parents have a bottle of this one? In any case, a very nice find and one of my favorite drams - fantastically smooth, with a delicate fruity sweetness to it.

Just picked up a bottle of Buillet Rye after looking around a fair bit for it. As this is not only my first purchase of whiskey but also my first purchase of any liquor for pleasure rather than economy, I was a bit antsy at first about dropping $35-ish on something I hadn't tasted before. Totally worth it. This may have just redeemed hard liquor for me. Doesn't hurt that it kicks rear end at soothing a sore, sick-rear end throat.

Problem is, I'm at a dead end as far as rye goes, I think. Virginia's state regulated stores don't have the best selection, and rye isn't all that popular in my local area. Having tried Johnny Walker Red and Black and not particularly enjoying either, what would be a good entry point into Scotch? I remember enjoying Glenlivet 12 when I had it, but that's pretty much my only positive experience with the drink so far.

DoctaFun posted:

My friend got me a bottle of Glen Moray 12 for Christmas, anyone know anything about this? I'm thinking it's a cheaper brand a la DeWars or something, but I've never tried it. That's what the guy at his liquor store suggested though. Regardless, I'm excited to at least try something new .

Glen Moray is a good, light Speyside whisky (the distillery is in Elgin). It doesn't have the greatest reputation in the UK as the old No Age Statement bottling was heavily discounted in Supermarkets and was often the cheapest Single Malt available. It used to be owned by LVMH but they sold it a couple of years ago to a French company (not Pernod) and they are trying to rebuild the brand reputation.

Kraven Moorhed posted:

Problem is, I'm at a dead end as far as rye goes, I think. Virginia's state regulated stores don't have the best selection, and rye isn't all that popular in my local area. Having tried Johnny Walker Red and Black and not particularly enjoying either, what would be a good entry point into Scotch? I remember enjoying Glenlivet 12 when I had it, but that's pretty much my only positive experience with the drink so far.

Johnnie Walker is an Islay blend, so you might not be that into peat smoke. Chivas Regal is another blend you might like a bit more, since it mellows the smoke some. Famous Grouse is even milder, since it's not pure malt, and is pretty inexpensive. I mostly use it for mixing, but it's a decent dram.

In terms of other Speyside single malts (like the Glenlivet), you could try Glenfiddich. People talk a bit of smack about their 12 year, but I think it's a perfectly enjoyable Scotch. The 15 year is supposed to be a fair amount better.

The Glenfiddich 15 Year Solera Vat has a surprisingly sweet palate initially so I would definitely say it's a good place to start if you don't mind paying a bit more to find a drink you enjoy. I don't know what the availability is like (or rules on importing) but Dalwhinnie 15 is also a really nice whisky to try. If you're after something a little cheaper, the Aberlour 10 is a very nice place to start.

Sort of on topic, do US state laws like that prohibit alcohol being sent as gifts from abroad? I know on another SA forum I frequent, people from the US buy and send products for people in Australia since it's cheaper for the Australian customers to pay for delivery by US goons than it is to buy in Australia. Just wondering since I'm sure we have a larger whisky selection over here in the UK and it might be cheaper for us to help out those in the US rather than people paying high costs to cover import prices.

quote:

Good advice

Definitely have a few I'm gonna watch out for now (I passed by Chivas Regal on my way to the Bulliet, so that may be my next bottle). Unfortunately for me, not even half of the ones mentioned are available. Here is all I have access to. And that's statewide. Heard the clerk mention something about special orders, but I'm not sure if they just get stuff from other locations or if they'd actually go through other distributors. May have to ask about that.

Recently I was also able to have a few glasses of LaSanta 12 and Cragganmore 12.

I enjoy all of them, especially the peat of Laphroaig and Talisker. The fruitness of sherry cask scotch is hit or miss for me. With a little water it takes the edge off that intense dried fruit flavor. The French Oak was really good, and Green Label is my go to. The Nadurra is intense and so fantastic to me. If you like in your face scotch, it's worth the money. The LaSanta was too floral for me to really enjoy.

slimskinny posted:

Recently I was also able to have a few glasses of LaSanta 12 and Cragganmore 12.

I enjoy all of them, especially the peat of Laphroaig and Talisker. The fruitness of sherry cask scotch is hit or miss for me. With a little water it takes the edge off that intense dried fruit flavor. The French Oak was really good, and Green Label is my go to. The Nadurra is intense and so fantastic to me. If you like in your face scotch, it's worth the money. The LaSanta was too floral for me to really enjoy.

The A'bunadh is a personal favourite of mine, very very peppery with a sweet, honeylike finish. Tried a shot of the Lagavulin 16 and it was okay, but I didn't like the tail end of it at all. YMMV, of course. I'm a fellow Laphroaig fan, for the record.

Citizen Insane posted:

The A'bunadh is a personal favourite of mine, very very peppery with a sweet, honeylike finish. Tried a shot of the Lagavulin 16 and it was okay, but I didn't like the tail end of it at all. YMMV, of course. I'm a fellow Laphroaig fan, for the record.

First thing that comes to mind with regard to Lagavulin's finish is oysters, so it's definitely a love/hate sort of thing.

Citizen Insane posted:

The A'bunadh is a personal favourite of mine, very very peppery with a sweet, honeylike finish. Tried a shot of the Lagavulin 16 and it was okay, but I didn't like the tail end of it at all. YMMV, of course. I'm a fellow Laphroaig fan, for the record.

A'bunadh is pretty good, but it really varies by batch. I've had some fantastic bottles of it, while also having some that were pretty bad .

Let your word be "Yes, Yes" or "No, No"; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

I'm more of a cocktail guy, but I've been trying to get into whiskey since my father and grandfather always enjoyed it. Can someone give a general summary of the differences between bourbon, rye, and Canadian? I've only tried a few decent-but-affordable blends (Grouse, Turkey 101, Buffalo Trace, etc.).

Bourbon is a corn-based whiskey, and is noted for big honey and vanilla notes, medium heat on the palate, and slight oakyness. Rye is a rye-based whiskey (heh), which is spicy and nutty, while sharing a few characteristics with bourbon, since they're both aged in fresh-charred white oak barrels. Canadian whiskey is an abomination of neutral grain spirits and despair.

To be a little more detailed on Canadian whisky, the thing is that it's not really terribly defined. They're usually mostly corn based, but there's no requirement for them to be. They often are called "rye" but don't actually have to have rye either. They need to be barrel-aged, but it doesn't need to be any particular type of barrels so may or may not add flavor. It can be distilled, as Kenning says, to nearly pure alcohol before that aging, which reduces the grain character. So really it's totally up to what the distiller wants to make, as long as it's made in Canada. Crown Royal isn't a bad one but isn't amazing, there are doubtless better brands I'm not familiar with, but at the lower end you're basically getting brown vodka that at best is mixing material.

This contrasts strongly with bourbon and American rye, which as noted has requirements giving strong character from the grain and the barrel. Which doesn't mean a given bourbon is necessarily better, just it has more defined characteristics implied by the label.

Seagram's VO, Crown Royal, and Canadian Club Reserve are the Canadian whiskies I've tried. It's been a while, but I recall the Canadian Club going down like water, but all of them lacked complexities found in bourbons or real rye. There might be a high-end Canadian that is really good but I am not aware of it.

Stultus Maximus posted:

Seagram's VO, Crown Royal, and Canadian Club Reserve are the Canadian whiskies I've tried. It's been a while, but I recall the Canadian Club going down like water, but all of them lacked complexities found in bourbons or real rye. There might be a high-end Canadian that is really good but I am not aware of it.

Forty Creek is a pretty good Canadian whisky. They also have (I think) two higher versions of it which I haven't tried yet, so those are next on my list (along with the higher versions of Crown Royal, since I don't like the regular stuff straight).

I'm working through various Canadian whiskies for now since they're cheaper compared to other whiskies, which means I can get a bottle of a better Canadian whisky for the price of a lower-end bourbon. I recently polished off a bottle of Wiser's Legacy, and it was pretty good, for Canadian whisky; had a sweet smell and spicy finish. Alberta Premium (100% rye whisky) is pretty good. First time I tried it, its very ethanol-like smell almost put me off, but I actually enjoyed the recent bottle I bought and I started noticing the subtler smells it had.

I meant to ask this also: does climate have an effect on whisky maturation? For some reason, I remember reading it did, but I thought I'd ask to get a specific answer. I figure these days, they just keep the barrels in climate-controlled indoors, but I honestly have no idea.

mojo1701a posted:

I meant to ask this also: does climate have an effect on whisky maturation?
... I figure these days, they just keep the barrels in climate-controlled indoors, but I honestly have no idea.

Absolutely. Wild Turkey warehouses (called rickhouses) are not climate controlled, can't remember if any of the others were or not. Even the micro-climates inside the rickhouse have a drastic effect on maturation. Wild Turkey talks about this in depth during their distillery tour. They can tell you roughly how long each individual barrel will mature by it's place on the racks just from long experience. The barrel itself also plays a role since some allow faster evaporation. There are spaces near the doors that are left empty because barrels placed there take too long to mature, presumably from the draft. It's also why age isn't a reliable indication of quality or complexity. You could have 6 year and 8 year barrels that mature around the same time.

Killer robot posted:

To be a little more detailed on Canadian whisky, the thing is that it's not really terribly defined. They're usually mostly corn based, but there's no requirement for them to be. They often are called "rye" but don't actually have to have rye either. They need to be barrel-aged, but it doesn't need to be any particular type of barrels so may or may not add flavor. It can be distilled, as Kenning says, to nearly pure alcohol before that aging, which reduces the grain character. So really it's totally up to what the distiller wants to make, as long as it's made in Canada. Crown Royal isn't a bad one but isn't amazing, there are doubtless better brands I'm not familiar with, but at the lower end you're basically getting brown vodka that at best is mixing material.

One of the things that sucks about Canadian whisky is that they can blend in neutral grain spirit after aging.

Let your word be "Yes, Yes" or "No, No"; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

Kenning posted:

Canadian whiskey is an abomination of neutral grain spirits and despair.

I recently sat down with some whiskey on the rocks and tried Crown Royal, Grouse, and Turkey 101 in that sitting. The Crown Royal had an alcoholic bite and a spicy taste, but it felt like there was no body of "base" underlying it, if that makes sense. The bourbon had much more substance. How's about that Wild Turkey rye?

I haven't had it, I hear it's good but nothing to write home about. Rittenhouse Bonded is my favorite workhorse rye, but it's pretty much impossible to find right now. I'm having excellent results from Bulleit Rye right now, and Old Overholt is serviceable but somewhat drab, sort of the Famous Grouse of rye whiskey.

Kraven Moorhed posted:

Just picked up a bottle of Buillet Rye after looking around a fair bit for it. As this is not only my first purchase of whiskey but also my first purchase of any liquor for pleasure rather than economy, I was a bit antsy at first about dropping $35-ish on something I hadn't tasted before. Totally worth it. This may have just redeemed hard liquor for me. Doesn't hurt that it kicks rear end at soothing a sore, sick-rear end throat.

Problem is, I'm at a dead end as far as rye goes, I think. Virginia's state regulated stores don't have the best selection, and rye isn't all that popular in my local area. Having tried Johnny Walker Red and Black and not particularly enjoying either, what would be a good entry point into Scotch? I remember enjoying Glenlivet 12 when I had it, but that's pretty much my only positive experience with the drink so far.

Not sure where you are in VA but the Vienna(NoVa) ABC store has the Buillet Rye and some other bottles I don't normally see.

So I got some of those "whisky stones" for Christmas. Does/Has anyone use them here? I've read they're supposed to chill the spirits by a few degrees without making it super cold and without watering it down. Might be helpful as my apartment tends to flucuate between 70-80F even in the winter (I don't control my heat), and my room-temperature stuff always seems a bit "hot". Putting straight whiskey on ice always seems to kill the flavors for me, so I avoid it.

LogisticEarth posted:

So I got some of those "whisky stones" for Christmas. Does/Has anyone use them here? I've read they're supposed to chill the spirits by a few degrees without making it super cold and without watering it down. Might be helpful as my apartment tends to flucuate between 70-80F even in the winter (I don't control my heat), and my room-temperature stuff always seems a bit "hot". Putting straight whiskey on ice always seems to kill the flavors for me, so I avoid it.

I don't use them as I always drink at room temp, but it's better than ice I suppose because it doesn't water down your drink.

What a difference a town makes! I left Minneapolis to visit the town where I went to college(Winona, MN) and stopped at their liquor store to check prices/see if they had anything good. Holy crap do I appreciate living up in Minneapolis now. The price for bourbon/scotch was unbelievable down there. Let's see, a bottle of Balvenie Doublewood sells for $32 near me, but down in Winona it was $57 . Similarly a 750ml of Woodford's Reserve was $49.99 down there...

Even the most common bottles were just super expensive. Glenlivet 12 was close to $50 I think.

wormil posted:

I remember your post from the old thread, prices are cheap where you live. Never move.

I don't know the legality of shipping booze, but if they were say, significantly cheaper with a greater selection than where you live, I might be able to be persuaded to do a little shipping. You know, for an old L4D companion.